PDA has sent two members of the PDA National Response Team to St. Louis, at the request of Giddings-Lovejoy Presbytery, to help respond to the shootings at the Kirkwood, Missouri, city hall. Kirkwood is a suburb of St. Louis.

Thursday night during a city council meeting, a gunman stormed the meeting and opened fire.  Five people were killed and several others, including the mayor, were wounded.  Several Presbyterian churches in the area have been affected, as some of those killed or wounded are members of Presbyterian churches.

PDA is especially saddened to learn that one of the dead is Kenneth Yost, Public Works Director, and husband of Cathy Yost.

Cathy organized many of the groups that went to the Gulf Coast from Giddings-Lovejoy Presbytery. Giddings-Lovejoy Presbytery designed and built the pavilion at Houma Presbyterian Volunteer Village.   

Please keep the loved ones of those killed and injured, Kirkwood city officials and administrators, the residents of the community, and the caregivers in your thoughts and prayers.